GALVIN is probably doing the right thing by not giving Bonifaz (above) a chance.

After state Senator Dianne Wilkerson’s bizarre failure, earlier this year, to collect enough signatures to get on September’s Democratic primary ballot, an obvious question loomed: did the senator still want her job?

Apparently, the answer was yes. Wilkerson’s signature slip-up was an embarrassment and a huge strategic blunder — she’ll have to win a three-way write-in race to survive September’s primary — but it also functioned as a much-needed wake-up call. And now that she’s faced with a real electoral fight rather than a mere coronation, the seven-term incumbent seems intent on doing everything in her power to keep her Second Suffolk Senate seat.

The most striking example of Wilkerson’s newfound focus? An allusion, at her July 20 campaign kickoff, to the serial gaffes (unpaid taxes, unpaid parking tickets, allegations of campaign-finance violations) that have dogged her career. In the past, the senator hasn’t been overly penitent when discussing these missteps — witness a recent Boston magazine profile, in which Wilkerson attributed her trials to ill will and excessive scrutiny. But Wilkerson’s campaign launch included a substantial measure of contrition: “To all of you, I say that I am sorry for any action of mine that has led you to question my judgment, the respect I have for the residents of the Second Suffolk District, or the respect I have for the position in which I have been fortunate to serve.”

Given the context, the sincerity of this apology is debatable — but it could convince some hesitant Wilkerson backers to give her one more chance come September. What’s more, Wilkerson has been calling in her political chits in earnest. During the ongoing gay-marriage battle, for example, the senator staunchly supported full civil-marriage rights for same-sex couples, a stance that brought enmity from some conservative black ministers and gratitude from gays and lesbians. Now Boston’s potent gay political infrastructure has a chance to return the favor — and it seems determined to do so, even though Wilkerson’s two challengers, Democrat Sonia Chang-Díaz and Republican Samiyah Diaz, are also gay-marriage supporters. (Case in point: Mark Solomon, the campaign director for MassEquality, blurbs Wilkerson’s gay bona fides on her campaign brochure, made an appearance at the aforementioned campaign kickoff, and helped organize an August 2 gay-focused fundraiser at the South End’s Club Café.

“Dianne’s been incredible on this issue,” explains Bay Windows editor (and former Phoenix news editor) Susan Ryan-Vollmar. “You just have to look at her performance at the 2004 constitutional convention. She gave an emotional speech from the floor of the State House, talking about racial discrimination and how you can’t draw artificial lines between racial discrimination and sexual-orientation discrimination. For MassEquality not to support her would have been odd.”

That group is just one of Wilkerson’s high-profile allies. For example, State Senate president Robert Travaglini hosted a May fundraiser for the senator at Joe Tecce’s, the storied North End restaurant, and offers encomiums on her brochure. Giovanna Negretti — a former Wilkerson staffer who runs ¿Oiste?, the state’s Latino political organization — also heads up the newly organized Latinos por Dianne Wilkerson. And while Wilkerson and Boston mayor Tom Menino have had some icy spells over the years, those in the know say their relationship is currently good. This reading was bolstered by Wilkerson’s hiring of Jerome Smith — Menino’s former liaison to the gay-and-lesbian community — as her campaign manager; Menino’s scheduled appearance at the Club Café event seems to confirm it. So some mayoral help should be in the offing as well.

Dianne's special deal Undeterred by her Democratic primary loss to opponent Sonia Chang-Díaz, State Senator Dianne Wilkerson is forging ahead in a sticker campaign to win re-election of her Second Suffolk seat in the state legislature.

Socialist studies With his frosty hair, necktie, and wire glasses, William Leonard resembles Barry Bostwick, the actor who played Mayor Randall M. Winston Jr. on the sitcom Spin City .

Will race enter the race? Two years ago, when Dianne Wilkerson inexplicably failed to submit the necessary signatures to get her name on the Democratic primary ballot for re-election as state senator, a 28-year-old upstart seized the opportunity.

Heck of a Guy Scott Brown’s stunning victory in January’s special US Senate election continues to reverberate through Massachusetts politics.

STARSTRUCK
A little-known but intriguing fact about Sonia Chang-Díaz, one of two Democrats running for the Second Suffolk state-senate seat: she’s the daughter of Franklin Chang-Díaz, a US astronaut who flew into space seven times — and spent 19.5 hours spacewalking! There’s got to be a campaign slogan in there somewhere …

ARTICLES BY ADAM REILLY

BULLY FOR BU! | March 12, 2010 After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.

STOP THE QUINN-SANITY! | March 03, 2010 The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

RIGHT CLICK | February 19, 2010 Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.

RANSOM NOTES | February 12, 2010 While reporting from Afghanistan two years ago, David Rohde became, for the second time in his career, an unwilling participant rather than an observer. On October 29, 1995, Rohde had been arrested by Bosnian Serbs. And then in November 2008, Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were en route to an interview with a Taliban commander when they were kidnapped.

POOR RECEPTION | February 08, 2010 The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.